In Fates Hands
by Racxa
Summary: After the sad death of Ino Yamanaka, a sixteen year old kunoichi named Sorano took her place on team 10. She is in love with Shikamaru Nara, and hopes he feels the same way. There are also the normal Naruto pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**Day One: The Introduction**

The sun began to set over a quite Konoha. Sorano began walking back towards her apartment, hoping to get there before nightfall. She had been out training all day in the forest, practicing her taijutsu. She picked up the messenger back she had left a couple of feet from where she had been practicing. Slinging it over her shoulder she began walking again. By the time she had got out of the woods it was just about dark. "Damn" she muttered to herself knowing she was going to get home after dark.

"Well since I am already out, why not get dinner?" she said to herself and looked up at the sky. She decided to stop at the best ramen shop in town, Ichiraku Ramen. Raman was not Sorano's favorite food but it was cheap and tasted good. She turned a corner and began walking down the road towards the shop. There were not many people on the street tonight, which kind of seemed a little weird to her, but she didn't care. She was tired and not really in the mood for much people interaction anyway.

She arrived and pushed a curtain open to reveal the shop. She sat down on a stool and looked at the old man. "Can I have a large bowl of pork ramen please" she said attempting to keep her black bangs out of her face. He nodded to her and turned around to prepare it. Sorano pulled the long pony tail in the back of her head tighter, as it was starting to come out during practice. She looked down at her outfit, and sighed. _I should have changed before I came_ she thought to herself. Her khaki pants dirty with mud, and her mesh under shirt torn. Also the tank- top she wore on top of the mesh had dirtied itself as well.

"Hard day of training?" the elderly man asked her, setting down her bowel in front of her. "Yeah, I guess it is pretty obvious. Isn't it?" she asked laughing a little. He shook his head and then returned to work. She picked up a pair of chopsticks and cracked them apart slowly, trying not to break one of them. She was successful and placed them between her fingers. She looked down at the hot bowl of Raman in front of her and smiled brightly, and took a bite. _Mmm __this is so good, _she thought to herself andcontinued to scarf down the hot soup in front of her.

By the time that she was done her Raman it was pitch black outside all except for the light in the street. "Here is your payment old man" Sorano said and set down the money on the counter. She again ducked down under the curtains and walked into the night. She began walking to the left towards the lonely apartment, in which the only thing that waited for her at home was Matchi, her long haired black kitten. She was happy to know at least someone would be at home waiting for her safe return.

Finally reaching the apartment building about ten or fifteen minutes later she sighed in relief. She opened the door and walked in towards the stairs. She walked up the short two flights of steps and turned to the right down a fairly lit hallway. It was not the most beautiful apartment building in the city but it was fine for a sixteen year old girl. She pulled the key set out of her messenger bag still hanging over her shoulder and unlocked the door. From the other side of the room a bell rang, and Sorano knew that it was Matchi waking up, and the bell around her neck jingling. She stood up slowly and stretched, then quickly made her way over to Sorano, and rubbed up against her leg.

Leaning down, tiredly, Sorano picked up the black kitten at her feet, and it began purring. She gave it a hug, and held it in one hand and with the other hand patted it on the head. She slowly made her way over to her bedroom door from the living room and opened. Then she let the cat jump out of her arms, and onto her double bed, only for it to curl up in its normal spot and go back to sleep.

Sorano looked at the clock on the nightstand beside her bed, it read _9:37_. _No wonder Matchi had been sleeping, I got home late tonight_she thought looking over at the cat, whose stomach was moving up and down, as she breathed in and out. She decided that she should take a shower before climbing into her nice clean bed. So she headed over towards the bathroom that was attached to her bed room and walked inside. She turned the shower on, then removed her clothes, and climbed in. She let the hot water beat down on her back for a couple of seconds before continuing with the normal routine.

After her nice shower was over she got out and wrapped a towel around her naked body. She walked back into the room where the black lump at the end of her bed still lie sleeping and got out some night clothes. Then again she looked over at the clock that read _10:17_, now. She yawned as she slipped into the clothes she has just picked out. Walking over to her bed slowly, she yawned again this time wider. Then she climbed in, and laid her head on the soft pillow.

As she lay there not yet asleep, but not entirely awake, one person came into her mind, Shikamaru Nara. She remembered earlier that day, how she had seen him walking somewhere with his faithful friend, Choji Akimichi. She smiled at him and he had smiled back, but then so did Choji which made Sorano shutter a little.

Sorano has had a crush on the Nara kid since they were little. While everyone else was busy falling over Sasuke, she just liked the simple calm boy known as Shikamaru. She laid there thinking about him and somewhere in the middle she fell asleep, not really knowing where.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sakura's Secret**

Disclaimer: Duh I dont own Naruto...

Sorano awoke abruptly to the sound of pounding on her window. Her eyes were hardly able to keep open long enough to look over and see who it was, but when she did she rolled them. _Naruto_, she thought and almost rolled back over to ignore him, for sleep. But she decided not to be rude, well at least not yet.

She slowly swung her feet over the side of the bed and yawned a bit. Then there was another knock on the window, which made Sorano want to slap him. She got up and made her way over to the window. "What do you want Naruto?" she asked swinging the window open.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and smiled a bit. "Well I was wondering if you would go on a d…"

That was all Naruto was able to say before Sorano slammed the window in his face, angrily. Then she closed the dark blue curtains hoping that, that would answer his question. She turned around and faced her bed again, and looked over slightly at the clock that sat on the night stand. _7:57_ it read, which made Sorano want to hit Naruto even more.

All the commotion had woken a small black cat that had curled itself up the night before on the bed. Matchi stood up and stretched tiredly. She jumped down off the bed and made her way into the living room, and then into the kitchen, where her food bowel lay empty. She meowed a bit hoping to get Sorano's attention, so she could have her breakfast.

Sorano knew that Matchi was hungry so she walked into the kitchen and pulled a small can of brightly colored cat food. She picked the bowel up off the floor and set it on the counter and opened the can. It smelled like old fish and made Sorano wonder why a cat would want to eat something like this.

Well obviously it was good to her because the second that Sorano set it on the floor Matchi stuck her nose right in and began chomping it up.

Sorano giggled a little and went back into her room to see if Naruto had got the picture and gone away. She slowly opened the curtains half expecting him to still be there. When he was not she sighed in relief. _Next time I see him…I am defiantly going to hit him_, she thought to herself as she dragged her feet back to the kitchen.

About an hour later she was all dressed and ready to go. She had earlier decided to go and train, but stop at Sakura's house on the way to see how she was doing. She waved good bye to Matchi and walked out the door, as she did locking it. She walked down the steps and out of the older building.

_The quickest way to Sakura's is_, she asked herself trying to decide which way to go as she got to the main gates. She finally decided, after a minute of contemplating, that she would go to the right. So she headed that way slowly, kicking up rocks along the way.

Ever since the sad death of Ino, Sakura had acted a little different, distant even. Sorano had not known that she and Sakura had shared any type of bond, and neither had anybody else, given their reactions. She just always saw them arguing or making fun of each other, or fighting over Sasuke. Never had they acted like friends, much less that they shared a bond. She thought that maybe something else was bothering her, other than Ino's death. Well at any extent, Sakura was acting different, and Sorano was determined to help her get through it.

She walked past the shop where Ino's parents still worked day to day, as they had during Ino's life. When she walked past the door she saw a depressed Ms. Yamanaka standing at the counter. She decided to go and buy a flower to give to Sakura as a gift.

"Good Morning Sorano" Ms. Yamanaka said, a little half heartedly.

Sorano gave her a bright smile and said "Good Morning Ms. Yamanaka." She strolled over to where the single flowers were kept and remembered getting one from Ino in their younger years, before Sasuke left. Shaking the thought of Sasuke out of her head, she picked up a single Hasu. It was a little expensive but she didn't really care, because it was for a friend.

"I will take one of these please" she said kindly looking at the woman's sad face. Her eyes were red and Sorano knew it was from crying. But who would blame her, her daughter just died.

"That is 764.92 yen" she said trying to smile, but didn't expect it to be working well.

Sorano handed her the money and grabbed the flower off the counter. "Have a nice day!" she said waving as she walked out the door. She went right to where Sakura's house was, with the beautiful flower in hand.

When she finally reached Sakura's house, she knocked on the door. Her mom came to the door quickly and opened it.

"Hello Sorano, are you here for Sakura? She is up stairs in her room" she said smiling brightly at her, in the doorway.

"Thanks" she said moving past Ms. Haruno and up the stairs. Sorano got to Sakura's door and noticed a faint whimpering coming from within it. She knocked on the door and then let herself in.

Sakura was sitting on her best, cross legged, with her hands covering her eyes, sobbing. A piece of paper, Sorano assumed was a letter of some sort; lay at the end of the bed face down.

Walking slowly over to Sakura, she put her hand on her shoulder. "What is wrong," she asked her sympathetically.

Sakura jumped a little, not noticing that anyone had walked in. She sniffled a little and looked up to see who was staring at her. She quickly picked up the letter lying next to her and got up off the bed. "Nothing" she said stuffing it inside a drawer.

Sorano gave her a look that said it all, the, you_ expect me to believe that_, look. "Is this about Ino," she asked her still not sure that was why Sakura had been acting so different lately.

Sakura quickly shook her head, "I feel so bad about her death."

The way she said it didn't convince Sorano, there was something in the tone of her voice that made her think otherwise, and she believed that the letter would give her proof. "Ok why don't you go into the bathroom and wash up and we can talk," she said sympathetically pushing her towards the bathroom.

"Ok" Sakura said sniffling a little, and walked out of the room and into the bathroom.

As soon as Sakura was out of the room, Sorano quickly walked over to the drawer and pulled out the single letter, and un folded it. It read:

_For the last time, stop writing me letters. I don't care how you feel about me. I really don't. You mean nothing to me. You were just another person in my way of my revenge. Leaving that damn village was the best thing I could have done. I finally can become strong without you, or Naruto holding me back. I don't need you guys. I don't need bonds, I broke them, they meant nothing, and they mean nothing now. _

Instantly Sorano knew who this letter was from, Sasuke.


End file.
